City Hall moves to appeal stop-and-frisk ruling

City Hall moves to appeal stop-and-frisk ruling

(PIX11) – When a federal judge ruled against some of the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk tactics this week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg vowed to fight back.

And New York City has announced it will file the first paper work toward an appeal Friday.

The city’s Corperation Counsel, Michael Cardozo, released a statement Thursday. “As the Mayor and Police Commissioner Kelly said on Monday, we strongly disagree with Judge Scheindlin’s order. We said we’d take immediate steps to appeal, and we plan to do so tomorrow by filing our Notice of Appeal,” Cardozo said.

Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled Monday the NYPD had in place a “police of indirect racial profiling” through its stop-and-frisk program. Scheindlin did not order the end of the policy but did call for a federal monitor to oversee reforms including patrol officers wearing body cameras.

Following the ruling Bloomberg said, “She ignored the real world realities of crime, the fact that stops match up with crime statistics.”

According to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, “We do not engage in racial profiling, it is prohibited by law, it is prohibited by our own regulations.”

The mayor and commissioner said stop-and-frisk has contributed to a drop in crime and gets guns off the streets.

But the judge said it unfairly targets minorities. 18-year-old Jabari Anthony told PIX 11 Friday, police started stopping him at 14.

“They tell me they stopped me because I am black kid walking in a white neighborhood. I’m not causing no trouble, trying to make it home,” Anthony said. He said a few times he did have a small amount of drugs on him but never a gun or weapon.

Queens resident Karen Meyers said she hopes the NYPD is able to maintain the stop-and-frisk policy in its current state.

“I think they should keep doing it. I think its a safe thing for the neighborhood. I think that if you are not doing anything wrong there’s nothing to hide.”